Vacuum cleaning devices are known to comprise motorised cleaning brushes. The motorised cleaning brushes or beater bars are mounted in the cleaning head of a vacuum cleaner in or adjacent to the suction nozzle. The cleaning brushes are configured to rotate within the cleaning head and engage against a surface to be cleaned. Accordingly debris is physically moved and entrained in the inward airflow into the suction nozzle. The cleaning brushes can dislodge ingrained dirt in a textile such as a carpet. This means that the suction power required to clean particularly dirty surfaces may be less. This is particularly useful for cordless vacuum cleaners when energy efficiency can increase battery life.
Some cleaning brushes, for example as shown in EP 0 351 224, can clog because debris such as hair can wrap around the cleaning brush rather than being sucked into the vacuum cleaner. According the cleaning head must be examined and the cleaning brush extracted from the cleaning head. This can be a particular nuisance because the user may have to remove large quantities of hair which is unsightly and unhygienic. Furthermore the user may have to invert the cleaning head and/or the vacuum cleaner to remove the cleaning brush which can cause debris partially sucked in to the cleaning head to fall out.
Embodiments of the present invention aim to address the aforementioned problems.